New Google Earth Imagery – September 7

September 7, 2011

A Google Earth imagery update is underway! Thanks to sharp-eyed GEB reader ‘Falko P.’ for letting us know about it.

As is usually the case, you can use Google Maps to determine for sure whether or not a specific area is fresh. This new imagery isn’t in Google Maps yet, so you can compare Earth vs. Maps to see what’s new; the fresh imagery is already in Google Earth, but the old imagery is still in Google Maps. If you compare the two side-by-side and they’re not identical, that means that you’ve found a freshly updated area in Google Earth!
[UPDATED – 7-September, 2:50pm EST]

If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know.

About Mickey Mellen

Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.

A sample dip into Germany – and thanks to the GEB readers who have spotted updates – shows some impressive and welcome higher res imagery. So if Google can’t get any further at Street View level they get closer from above

Various areas in Upper Michigan. Two areas in Houghton County, including both the Upper and Lower entrances to the Portage Ship Canal (but not the middle), Sault Ste. Marie and another area in Western Chippewa County (a sliver of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario is included, but not much). I thought I saw some other updates around the Straits of Mackinac and from Boyne City to East of Onaway, but I see them on Google Maps as well. The new imagery of the Upper Entrance of Portage Ship Canal is a bit obscured by clouds or haze.

One of the updates already mentioned in Wisconsin includes the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, or Oshkosh Fly-in as its known to some. It’s a huge display of aircraft. There is a LOT to see! (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)

There seem to be indeed a lot of updates in Germany. My local village Delingsdorf (vicinity of Hamburg) for example was last updated in 2002. We sent an open letter/mail to Google two years ago, asking to please update the imagery, because many streets and buildings built since 2002 could not be seen.
BUT: The images now released seem to be at least about 1.5 – 2 years old!

Street View updates and extensions may also be due soon, but hopefully Google will have been working to remove the distortion and instability of SV imagery often experienced in GE 6 but not in Google Maps when navigating around a place, say, by moving along a street.

Well done to GE for the update,
Could be close to the time where its is easier to point out places where there is no base imagery,
I’ll go first,
Biggest Cloud Cover in Europe, North West Ireland, its got 100% street view but no base imagery, its a pity.

@ Shane – ditto three large strips in SW Scotland, plus part of the Isle of Mull, with Street View but only the very basic low res imagery dating from the launch of GE.
Some recent dark and cloudy imagery , see for example the the north of Islay, is not much better.
No doubt frequent wet weather does not help, but Wales has been well covered for ages.

The KMZ is now out and had arrived automatically in My Places. Presumably the LatLong blog will feature it shortly.
It shows what a huge update there has been in Germany – easily covering the majority of the country, with lots of new higher res to explore.

I am finding that the new updates in Germany are linked an unusual bug where most of the single image Panoramio photo icons do not open, although they do open when they appear in Street View of the same areas and elsewhere in GE.
Has any other GEB reader encountered this bug and/or knows a solution?

Hi,
I have been using Google Earth for more than 4 years now and I can not stop wondering WHEN the updates are coming for some parts of the world. As an example. My friends have a house in Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand, you can go there by searching for Cho Ho, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand in Google Earth.
This area have grown a LOT the latest 10 years but STILL Google Earth shows photos of the area that was taken for more than 10 years ago!!

Panoramio bug – may be no one else has the bug, but it gets even stranger – you can open and keep open a multiple image icon, then jump to a single image icon which will then open, and so on from open photo to new single photo icon , even though these did not previously open. Very curious.

This blog and its author are not an official source of information from Google that produces and owns Google Earth
Google and Google Earth are trademarks of Google Inc..
All image screenshots from Google Earth are Copyright Google
All other trademarks appearing here are the trademarks of their respective owners.